The best part of my job (besides making alliterative blog post titles) is working with developer communities, especially the incredibly passionate Google Developer Groups. Many chapters have been working in their local regions to diversify their communities and make them more inclusive for women developers (e.g. the Android codelab in Tokyo pictured below, and GDG Philippines). Because of these great local initiatives, we’re collaborating with the global organizer community to launch a DevFestW season during the month of March.

Like previous DevFests, DevFestW events are community-led efforts that feature technical sessions on Google’s developer tools and platforms. DevFestW also places an emphasis on bringing together women developers to teach, learn, code, and network.

Diversity is important to us at Google, both within the company and within our developer ecosystem. To truly innovate and grow, we need a diverse set of people coming up with solutions and creating products for a varied audience. We’re excited to support this initiative, and to see what foundation we can build for a lasting, vibrant community.

Visit devfest.info to find and register for a DevFestW event in your region. Stay up-to-date on all things DevFestW by following and hashtagging posts with #gdg #devfestw. Join the conversation by becoming a part of the GDG Women community on Google+. Happy festing!

One of the new regions for Google Student Ambassadors was Latin America. Nineteen students were selected from 11 universities across Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru to participate in our first-annual program. The selected students all attended our Google Student Ambassador Summit in Buenos Aires back in May 2012, where they were provided with interactive trainings on Google products and introduced to a robust network of Googlers and fellow Ambassadors.

While only a small group of students, their impact was truly enormous! In just seven short months, Ambassadors helped introduce Google Apps, Google+, Chrome and other Google products to their university communities.

Check out more videos from our Google Student Ambassadors in Latin America here.

Ambassadors were given the unique opportunity to be leaders amongst their peers on campus, and invaluable liaisons between Google and the university community. By the end of the 2012 program, all of the students had fostered strong bonds with one another and created close-knit communities on campus and beyond.

Now that the first year has come to a close, we’re excited to launch again in March 2013 with more students and another country represented (look out, Mexico!). Be sure to keep an eye out for the GSAs on your campus.

The Internet policy world is ripe with fascinating issues. From cybercrime to government surveillance and security, to public procurement, trade and open access to information, there has never been a more exciting time to get involved. We’re excited to launch the 6th summer of the Google Policy Fellowship, with new opportunities to work with organizations from Africa, Europe and Latin America in addition to ones in U.S. and Canada. Applications are open today, and students of all levels and disciplines are welcome to apply before March 15, 2013.

Fellows will spend ten weeks this summer working on a broad portfolio of topics at a diverse set of organizations, including:Africa

At Google, we are committed to helping the innovators of the future make the most of their gifts. We believe open source development is a useful and accessible way for passionate students to get practical and rewarding experience in computer science.With this in mind, Google is excited to announce our third annual Android Camp. Android Camp will offer thirty current freshmen and sophomores the chance to participate in a week-long educational summer program at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California from June 9 to June 15, 2013. This program will include an interactive and collaborative curriculum focused on providing a practical introduction to developing applications for the Android operating system. In addition, students will explore the concepts behind Android, the framework for constructing an application, and the tools for developing, testing, and publishing software for the platform. Students will also get the opportunity to enjoy technical talks by Googlers, network with talented students and attend social activities around Silicon Valley.Android Camp is open to current freshmen and sophomores studying computer science or a related major at a four-year university in the U.S. and Canada. We are looking for students with strong academic records, at least one year of experience in Java, limited to no experience programming in Android, and a demonstrated passion for CS development. Our goal with Android Camp is to take high potential students with no experience programming in Android and to have them developing fully functioning Android applications by the end of the week! It is an exciting, fast-paced program where students will participate in interactive courses designed to help them develop and build competencies in the Android platform. Interested in learning more? Check out this blog post from one of our former Android Campers as he talks about his experiences.Applications for Android Camp are open now and the deadline to apply is March 17th. For more information and to submit your application, please visitgoogle.com/students/androidcampPosted by Harrison Shanklin, University Programs

“I am standing in a partial enclosure made of sticks and plant fronds. This is the school for roughly 35 students, ranging in age from three to about 20 years old. There are no desks. There is only a single shared chalkboard, and it has gaping holes.” — David Rathmann-Bloch from the 21st Century Chalkboard Project, writing from rural Haiti.

These are just some of the many challenges faced by education organizations who applied for this year’s Google RISE Awards. The RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Awards program funds and supports organizations around the world that provide science and technology education at a grassroots level.

This year we’re delighted to give awards to 30 new organizations from 18 different countries. Combined they will reach more than 90,000 children in 2013, helping inspire and teach the scientists and engineers of the future.

Others, like the U.K.’s Code Club and the U.S.’s CodeNow, offer extracurricular activities that help interested children, especially those from underrepresented minority backgrounds, to learn programming.

A few, such as the Middle East’s MEET and iLab Liberia, seek to use technology education as a platform to bridge wider social and cultural divides.

In addition to receiving funding and support to continue their outreach, RISE Award recipients will be brought together for a global summit this June in London.

To paraphrase an old saying, from small seeds, great things can grow. The recipients of the 2013 RISE Awards have already made a difference. Connecting with other like-minded organizations will help spread valuable and practical expertise, and spark opportunities for global collaboration and expansion.

We are very excited to announce that applications have opened for the Google AISES Scholarship!The Google AISES Scholarship is open to American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and people of First Nations from Canada pursuing degrees in the computer science, computer engineering and related programming fields in the US and Canada. Scholarship recipients will receive 10,000 USD (for those studying in the US) or 5,000 CAD (for those studying in Canada) and will be invited to attend the annual Google Scholars’ Retreat at a Google office. For further details, please visit the Google AISES Scholarship page. For more information on all of our scholarship opportunities, please see the Google Scholarships page.Deadline to apply for the Google AISES Scholarship is March 31, 2013. Apply today!Posted by Azusa Liu, Student Development Programs

This will be the 9th year for Google Summer of Code, an innovative program dedicated to introducing students from colleges and universities around the world to open source software development. The program offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source projects with the help of mentoring organizations from all around the globe. Over the past eight years Google Summer of Code has had 6,000 students from over 100 countries complete the program. Our goal is to help these students pursue academic challenges over the summer break while they create and release open source code for the benefit of all.

Spread the word to your friends! If you know of a university student who would be interested in working on open source projects this summer, or if you know of an organization that might want to mentor students to work on their open source projects, please direct them to our Google Summer of Code 2013 website where they can find our timeline along with theFAQs. And stay tuned for more details coming soon!

The Generation Google Scholarship was established for aspiring computer scientists to excel in technology and become active role models and leaders in the field. Selected students will receive 10,000 USD (for those studying in the US) or 5,000 CAD (for those studying in Canada) for the 2013-2014 school year. As part of the scholarship, recipients will be required to attend Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI) in the summer of 2013.

Who can apply?

Applicants must be high school seniors and meet the following eligibility criteria:

Intend to be enrolled in or accepted as a full-time student at a university in the US or Canada for the 2013-2014 school year.

Intend to be enrolled in or accepted for enrollment in a baccalaureate Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or related program.

Exemplify leadership and demonstrate a commitment to and passion for computer science and technology through involvement in his/her community.

Exhibit a strong record of academic achievement.

Be a student from an underrepresented group in computer science (African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Female, or a Person with a Disability).

At Google, we are committed to helping the innovators of the future make the most of their gifts. We believe open source development is a useful and accessible way for passionate students to get practical and rewarding experiences in computer science.With this in mind, Google is excited to announce our first annual Chrome Academy! Chrome Academy will offer thirty rising sophomores and juniors at universities in the U.S. or Canada the chance to participate in a week-long educational summer program at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. The Academy will run from June 16 to June 22, 2013 and will include an interactive and collaborative curriculum focused on providing a practical introduction to developing cutting-edge web applications and Chrome Packaged Applications. In addition, students will explore time-saving frameworks and the tools required for developing, testing, and deploying web applications. Students will also get the opportunity to enjoy technical talks by Googlers, network with other talented students and attend social activities around Silicon Valley.Applications for Chrome Academy are open now and the deadline to apply is March 17th. For more information and to submit your application, please visit google.com/students/chromeacademyPosted by Allison Roarty, Student Development Programs

Cross-posted from the Official Google BlogTechnology
can sometimes be complicated, but you shouldn’t have to be a computer
scientist or security expert to stay safe online. Protecting
our users is one of our top priorities at Google. Whether it’s creating
easy-to-use tools to help you manage your information online or
fighting the bad guys behind the scenes, we’re constantly investing to
make Google the best service you can rely on, with security and privacy
features that are on 24-7 and working for you.Last year, we launchedGood to Know,
our biggest-ever consumer education campaign focused on making the web a
safer, more comfortable place. Today, on Safer Internet Day, we’re
updating Good to Know to include more tips and advice to help you
protect yourself and your family from identity theft, scams and online
fraud. You can also learn how to make your computer or mobile device
more secure, and get more out of the web — from searching more
effectively to making calls from your computer. And you can find out
more about how Google works to make you, your device and the whole web
safer.

For
example, we encrypt the Gmail and Google Search traffic between your
computer and Google -- this protects your Google activity from being
snooped on by others. We also make this protection, known as
session-wide SSL encryption, the default when you’re signed into Google
Drive. Because outdated software makes your computer more vulnerable to
security problems, we built the Chrome browser to auto-update to the
latest version every time you start it. It gives you up-to-date security
protection without making you do any extra work.Even if you don’t use Google, we work hard to make the web safer for you. Every
day we identify more than 10,000 unsafe websites — and we inform users
and other web companies what we’ve found. We show warnings on up to 14
million Google Search results and 300,000 downloads, telling our users
that there might be something suspicious going on behind a particular
website or link. We share that data with other online companies so they
can warn their users.We know staying safe online is important to you — and it is important to us too.Please take some time today to make your passwords stronger andturn on 2-step verification
to protect your Google Account. Talk with friends and family about
Internet safety. And visit our new Good to Know site to find more tips
and resources to help you stay safe online.Posted by Alma Whitten, Director of Privacy, Product and Engineering

We are thrilled to announce the 20 grand prize winners of Google Code-in 2012, a contest designed to introduce teenagers to the world of open source software development. Congratulations to all 334 students from 36 countries who participated in the contest, completing 1,925 tasks.

Each of the 10 open source mentoring organizations that worked with the students during the contest chose 2 students to be their organization’s grand prize winners based on the students’ comprehensive body of work during the seven week contest period.

Students are listed alphabetically (by first name) with their country and the organization that they worked with during Google Code-in 2012.

These 20 pre-university students completed an impressive 576 tasks ranging from annotating face recognition for disaster response efforts to creating videos and screencasts to teach others about the organization’s software to writing scripts to develop MySQL tables. In late April, the grand prize winners will be flown to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, USA along with a parent or legal guardian for a four night visit. During the trip the students will have the opportunity to participate in an awards ceremony, meet with Google engineers, have a full day of fun exploring San Francisco, and make new friends also interested in open source development.

A couple of quotes from the mentors that worked with this year’s Google Code-in students:

'They're surprisingly motivated, excited to contribute, genuinely interested, and productive to boot. Initial estimates indicate we may get years worth of work done and one student has already earned commit status, two others are getting close.' -- Sean Morrison, BRL-CAD Organization Administrator and Mentor, two weeks after the start of the contest

‘One of my favorite quotes, one you probably have seen before, from a student: "this is my first patch to an open source project"’ -- Walter Bender, Sugar Labs Organization Administrator and Mentor

And that is what this contest is all about, introducing students to the many ways that they can contribute to open source software development. An enormous thank you to all of the students, IT teachers, parents, mentors and organization administrators who made the Google Code-in 2012 a success!